SYLVAIN Distin was hero and villain as the Blues crept towards Premiership safety with a second successive draw.

The City captain held up his hands for allowing Juan Pablo Angel to head Villa into a first-half lead, then produced a stunning late equaliser, only his third goal in 78 league and cup appearances.

"I think we didn't play too badly apart from the goal we gave away and I accept responsibility for that," he said candidly.

"Apart from Angel's header we didn't give them too many chances to score and it was a pretty even game. It was a decent point I suppose. I was in charge of Angel at the corner and I was disappointed that he scored.

"He has a reputation as one of the best headers of the ball at set pieces, but I should not have let him get to the ball. It was sweet to get that equaliser in similar fashion. It was a great ball in by Michael Tarnat and I just got as much power and direction on it as I could."

Distin insisted that confidence remains reasonably high.

Positive

"Everyone is in a positive frame of mind and ready to work hard to make sure we get the points we need," he said.

"It is an easy thing to say but we have the job of going on the pitch and showing it and I think we did that at Villa."

Many felt that, when Daniel van Buyten's season was ended by a groin injury, City might struggle but Distin and Co have performed well after reverting to a flat back four.

"Daniel is a good player but one player doesn't make a team," said Distin. "We didn't win more when he played or lose more when he hasn't. We miss him but we can play well without him.

"We defended well as a unit and David James did not have many saves to make. The defence is not built around any one player. It is a unit and if you take one out and put one in it should function just the same. We have quality players in reserve who cannot even get into the squad."

Fellow centre half Richard Dunne urged his teammates to be ruthless over the Easter weekend when they take on Wolves and Spurs.

"We played well in the second half at Villa but it seems that we need to go a goal behind before we start playing and we cannot keep doing that," he said.

"We have to keep believing in ourselves and the way we are playing. We must be ruthless against Wolves on Saturday because if we can take three points, their chances of catching us are slim and that's one less to worry about."